Dave

This post will be different from those that have come before. Know that it's held together with a heart that is so thankful for what God can do in the life of man.  By His power He makes us new and destines us to enjoy eternity with Him. That's the road we traveled with Dave that I'd like to tell you about. 

Dave served in the Navy during World War 2

 I don't remember the first time I met Dave, though I'm relatively certain it was mid-summer 1974. Which means I knew him for a very long time. 4 years after meeting him, I married his youngest son and slowly built a relationship with Dave over the next 50 years.

He enjoyed "paddle boarding" long before it was called paddle boarding! 

This was taken  during his time on Guam 

Dave was an amazing man who raised a great family. He was college educated and I was intimidated early on because I was fairly certain that college wasn't in my future. But I was accepted into the family and considered it my own.

Dave married Reenie on June 25, 1948 

She was his constant companion until her own homegoing

When we added children to our life, it became clear that Dave was a proper religious man, but lacked the vital relationship with Jesus that makes religion worthwhile. My husband and I had been introduced to a life lived with a Savior that was beyond religion. Of course, we wanted Dave to have that relationship too.

A 1958ish family photo

As our children grew up, they knew that their grandfather didn't make room for Jesus in his life like they did, and so made it their mission to "get him on board."

They talked about the Bible all the time; the things they were learning and the passages they were memorizing in Christian school. The children KNEW that Poppo would never tell them to be quiet, but would politely listen to every word they had to say. And so they capitalized on that!

He and my mother in law traveled cross country regularly to attend special programs the kids were in and to enjoy a nice visit. And as the kids got older, Dave became even more distant when it came to spiritual things. 

For his 98th birthday, we arranged a card shower and people from all over, whether they knew him or not, sent greetings

He LOVED it

Our children grew up, got married, and had children of their own, but never stopped praying for their grandfather and talking about Christ, who was so very important in their lives.

They knew the process was really clear and simple to know Jesus as your own: 

To know you have a sin problem you can do nothing about.

To know He paid the price for that sin when He died on the cross.

To know He rose again from the dead and ascended into heaven.

To know that the power behind that resurrection from the dead is freely offered as God's gift to us so that we can go to heaven too.

And to accept the gift that He's offered. So simple.

But it still wasn't for him. He grew older, moved into assisted living, lost his wife when she was 92, and at 98 found himself also facing death.

I think Dave really believed he would live forever, and quite honestly, I was starting to think that too! He had always enjoyed good health and had lived such a long time... but his death was rapidly approaching. 

We had travelled regularly to be with him and the last time we visited, we wondered how long it would be before we made our final trip. A week after flying home, we got the call to come back out. 

Hundreds of people for over a half century had invested in Dave by praying for him. Not just for health and safety, but for that all important decision that stood before him. Christ died for Dave and wanted nothing more from him than to accept the gift of eternity in heaven with Him. 

In July of 2025, in the quiet of his room, with his son on one side and a hospice chaplain on the other, he prayed... really prayed for the first time asking Jesus to include him in heaven. 

It was a very private thing for Dave, and so the quiet of the moment pleased him immensely. But even in the quiet of that room, my husband and I were having a big ol' party in our heads! 

The staff was so good to him in his final days

We enjoyed a short time with him before he "passed behind the veil" to do business before finally leaving this earth. We got to watch him reaching up, talking to others, saying, "I know, I know, I'm coming!"  His wife, Reenie, spent her life living for Jesus. She was already in heaven waiting for him. The final time we heard his voice was when he sang a spiritual that he had probably learned as a child. Amen. He had a very nice voice. 

Sweet Esther, a staff member, knelt at his bedside and prayed for him often

God gave us such a gift to spend Dave's last hours with him and to be holding his hands when it came time for him to go. We look forward to seeing him again when it's our time to go. And while we wait, we pray for others in the same way we prayed for Dave. 

We spent a lot of hours just holding his hands 

What a gift

Jesus is always there, waiting...

"For God so loved the world,

That He gave His only Son,

That whoever believes in Him should not perish,

But have eternal life."

John 3:16

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